REVIEW: “Yemaya” is theater where imagination takes the lead
It is rare that we get to see a play where a director’s creative vision presents us with a mutli-sensory theatrical experience. This was one of them.
Daily TribuneIt is rare that we get to see a play where a director’s creative vision presents us with a mutli-sensory theatrical experience. This was one of them.
In "Yemaya," a first sip ice cold Coke opens doors to world of bigger dreams in a distant land.
All photos by Myra Ho and Dan Esguerra. Courtesy of 9Works Theatrical
SINGER and actress Bituin Escalante makes a stellar return to the stage as Inay / Yemaya, with a performance that shines in its subtlety
A feather and cans of Spam as fare to cross the ocean to their dreams.
“Puti, bughaw, pula. Asukal at cerveza. Ang kwento ko ay magsisimula na”
Jesus (who we will later come to know as Mulo), the central character in 9Works Theatrical's Yemaya, is standing in a sand pit in the middle of the Blackbox Theater. As he says these lines, it is almost like he is beckoning us to enter a world of his imagining – where the lines between reality and fantasy blur. He is surrounded by a myriad of characters who will be part of his journey – not that we know it yet – setting the stage for magic and mystery to unfold. The question now is this - are you willing to go along for the ride?
Yemaya is a play where suspension of disbelief is more mandatory than it is expected. Director Ed Lacson dares you to be fully swept up in the ebbs and flow of Mulo's journey as a young boy whose dreams of a bigger world begins with that first sip of cold Coca-Cola. With the help of the goddess, Yemaya, and the feisty Maya, he seeks out his destiny in a distant land, with nary a care for the uncertainty ahead.
The choice of doing Yemaya as 9Works' first venture into straight plays is a brave one, as the material borders on the esoteric. The original work it is based on, Yemaya’s Belly, is by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Quiara Alegria Hudes, who also wrote the book for the Lin-Manuel Miranda led musical In The Heights. According to executive producer Santi Santamaria, Lacson was given free rein on the choice of show to mark his return to Philippine theater (his first since 2019’s Himala: Isang Musikal) – “For me, Yemaya is a primarily a migration story. I could relate to it very much, as I think many Filipinos will too.”
Lacson passed on the idea of an adaptation, working with Eljay Castro-Deldoc on translating the work into Filipino to allow for play's nuances and cultural references to stay true to the original text. “It’s tricky to transpose the key narrative points into a Filipino setting. Like taking a boat ride to reach the United States from the fictional island town would be impossible coming from here,” explains Lacson. But as the play goes on, there is a noticeable excess of literary flourish in parts, making the translation feel overwritten and short on clarity – doing little to fill some gaps in the storytelling.
The intuitive and highly visual approach of Lacson’s staging more than compensates for that lack. He makes full use of the liberties afforded by Yemaya’s leanings towards magic realism to take the audience on a layered multi-sensorial experience. The elements of the set are suspended high up over the stage, with each scene engaged in a game of theatrical smoke and mirrors. Akin to an animator drawing out spaces with the characters moving into the next frame as pencils sketch towards a reveal. There is a lyrical quality to the movement, with each piece lowered from the rafters above as if in step in a graceful dance. This allows the audience to cling to the dreamlike state in which he has elected this story to live within. Even the simple game of Dice is a carefully choreographed ballet set against overlapping timelines.
Tommy Alejandrino, as Mulo, captures the innocence and wonder of a young boy on the brink of discovery. There is a brightness to his performance that adds levity to Yemaya’s darker themes of tragedy and loss. As Maya, Ness Roque delivers a grounded portrayal that is sparse yet moving in its simplicity. The sincerity in Alejandrino and Roque’s performance allows you to believe that their characters are pursuing their dreams and, perhaps, delusions, fueled by nothing more than hope.
Yemaya also marks the return of the divine Bituin Escalante to the stage. As Inay, a mysterious voodoo woman, and the goddess Yemaya, she eschews flamboyance in favor of realism and mystery. Her voice amplifies the play’s dreamlike setting, floating ethereally in a languorous chant.
Inasmuch as this play is a manifestation of how far a creative vision can go, it also shows how excess downplays it. Mulo and Maya’s scenes on the boat, and his encounters with Lila (Sheenly Gener) in the store are introspective and thoughtful. The same can’t be said of Tico’s mournful lament of his wife Baldovina’s passing. Herbie Go is a force to watch, but the scene would have benefitted from a lighter directorial hand.
When Alejandrino’s Mulo says “Puti, bughaw, pula. Asukal at cerveza. Ang kwento ko ay tapos na” with the stage fading to black, the audience is snapped out of Yemaya’s dreamlike state. Lacson’s sensorial feast now charges us to ponder our own sense of wonder, and if we’ve fully lost it living in such a jaded world. Or perhaps ask why simple joys like a cold bottle of Coca-Cola and Spam can become a springboard from which hope takes flight. And when we stopped thinking it to be so.
It’s a busy season for 9Works Theatrical, with On Your Feet: The Story Of Emilio and Gloria Estefan opening the week after Yemaya closes on July 5, 2026. In the meantime, get swept away into this dream world, which also features Benedix Ramos and Sheena Belarmino as Mulo and Maya, at the Blackbox Theater, Proscenium, Rockwell. Shows are at 8:00PM on Fridays, and 3:00PM and 7:30PM on weekends. Get your tickets via Ticket2Me.
